New York City, Thursday

[suitably_heroic]

Sometimes mornings were nice. Time spent in the music room, after people had woken up, but before he needed to be anywhere. Jack let his fingers move over the keys, his ear fied on the sound of Dane's chords flowing from the phone recording - Em, G, Cmaj7, D... "Why do we always crave absolution? Why can't we put these ghosts to rest? Why won't we tell the dead to leave us alone? Why let the ghosts follow us home, to let our blood and leave us to roam? The dead should leave us alone--"

"I like the triplets and the duplets," Dane commented quietly from the doorway. "Very cute."

Jack let out a sigh as he looked up and away from the piano. "Well, we aren't all fancy assholes with pretty pieces of paper that say we're qualified to make music good."

"It is a nice thing to have." Dane lifted his cup of coffee with a small smile. "I like it, though. It's getting better."

There was still a quiet exhaustion in his face, and Jack knew it wasn't physical - Dane had slept just fine last night. He put the sheets with the notes down and rose from his seat. "Thanks," he said. "How are you holding up?"

One of Dane's shoulders slid up in a helpless shrug. "I'm okay--" he started. "Okay, no, that's bullshit. I'm sorry. I'm, I don't know. Stuck in some bad memories. I guess. It'll be fine."

Jack took a moment to roll his wrist, fiddling with the straps of his glove. Then he took a few steps, getting in closer, seeing the truth of that reflected in Dane's eyes. "Look, I know you're probably not eager to hear my Jedi zen therapy bullshit," he said. "But try and find a moment to sit with it for a while today, okay? Grab a break or something. Listen to the dulcet tones of cabs racing past, I don't know."

"Aye aye, Zen master," Dane said, a wry smile tugging on his mouth.

"And if you want, I can call the band, cancel our performance at the protest this weekend," Jack added casually. "Give you some time."

"And deprive you of a chance to yell 'fuck the system' in public?" Dane sipped his coffee. "I'm not that much of a monster."

Jack shook his head. He brushed a kiss against Dane's cheek before he passed him by. "Just think about it," he said.

"You tell Lana I said hi," Dane called over his shoulder.

"She agrees with me about the zen shit!" Jack called back.

He grabbed a thermos of coffee on his way out, shoving half a sandwich in his mouth. Lana was probably not going to be outside at 10 AM on the dot, right? He would be that lucky?

[[ for her ]]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

Jack looked at Dane, who matched his gaze with an even one of his own. Then he looked back at Lana, and said, "Ugh, fair warning, I'm pretty sure she did her best to make them horrifying."

"Well, at least I'm ditching for work in fifteen," Dane mused, lifting a spoonful of cereal. "So if it's especially bad, I'll let you deal with it."

"Gee, thanks."

[unusual_sith]

"Most of them are just for horrifying him." Lana nodded toward Jack. "But everybody got a little something."

She reached in her bag and shuffled things around. "Oh. I got something for Jill when we were in Ireland. I have no idea what she enjoys," except apparently Cade, "but I thought she might appreciate these.

[suitably_heroic]

"Well," Dane said, looking at the socks. "That'll save her ass next Saint Patrick's Day."

"The hell does pog me thoin mean?" Jack asked, frowning.

[unusual_sith]

"'Kiss my ass', apparently," Lana said, grinning.

[suitably_heroic]

"Oh, she'll like that," Dane said, smiling. He set the socks aside. "Thanks, Lana."

"Now break out the horrors already," Jack sighed. "We might as well get this over with."

[unusual_sith]

"Patience, Jedi," Lana teased. "We'll get there. This is for Trent."

It was sort of a horror? She wasn't sure if he'd love it or hate it, but it had to be done.

[suitably_heroic]

"Oh space," Jack said, reaching for it. "He's going to take this as a decoder beanie, you know that, right?"

[unusual_sith]

Lana passed it over. "I can always add some aurabesh inside if it'll help."

[suitably_heroic]

"Nah, leave him guessing," Jack said, studying the beanie.

[unusual_sith]

"If you like." Lana looked at Dane. "Do you want the serious gift, the 'I have no idea what this is for' gift, or the silly gift first?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Let's work our way up to serious," Dane said. He marked the statement with a big bite of cereal.

"I'm going to get a drink," Jack muttered. "I need to fortify for this."

By 'drink', he meant 'soda from the fridge', since they didn't keep alcohol around, but you know.

[unusual_sith]

Lana rolled her eyes. "Okay. In that case, here. I have no idea what the point of this is, but it was too weird not to buy for somebody."

What was it even supposed to smell like? Apart from the obvious.

[suitably_heroic]

Dane took it. "Tomato leaf," he echoed. "You know, 'tomato soup' would've made more sense..."

"I knew it," Jack said, returning with a can in hand. He leaned over. "Seattle? Seattle's too close to Portland."

[unusual_sith]

"Exactly!" Lana said to Dane. "What sort of scent is that? Are tomato leaves any different from others? I have no idea, so I'm letting you do the research."

She turned to Jack. "I don't think I got you anything from there, so you can worry about other things."

[suitably_heroic]

"Great, that narrows down the field to a million possible horrors, minus one," Jack sighed.

[unusual_sith]

"And you'll just have to wait for it," Lana said cheerfully.

Next, she pulled out a t-shirt and handed it to Dane. It had a typical large-headed green alien under a butterfly net held by a man with a big grin on his face. Under it was the caption, "I caught an alien!"

[suitably_heroic]

"Okay, that's just offensive," Jack muttered.

"... but it'll make for a funny birthday present for Trent," Dane said, patting the t-shirt as he put it down on the sofa.

[unusual_sith]

"If you prefer." Lana shrugged. She'd hope the joke would go over better, but she wasn't going to argue.

"And the serious one," she said. "Or at least the not-funny one. I have no idea if it's something you'd use, but it was lovely and I thought you might." She handed over a little box.

[suitably_heroic]

Dane grabbed it, opened it, and squinted inside. "... Huh," he said. "Cool." He looked up, grinning. "Maybe we should add some blues to our repertoire, huh?"

"Or not," Jack said, very quickly. "Maybe not!"

"You gotta be more open to experimentation."

[unusual_sith]

"What's wrong with blues?" Lana asked. "I thought they were the root of rock and roll." Look at her remembering your class! "Anyway, don't they use those slides in other sorts of music, too?"

[suitably_heroic]

"It's not as common these days," Dane said, smiling. "But hey, that's just an incentive to dick around with it, see what happens. Thanks, Lana."

[unusual_sith]

"You're very welcome." Lana smiled. Then it turned into a wicked grin. "Ready for yours?" she asked Jack. There were clearly still several things in her bag.

[suitably_heroic]

"No, but you're going to give them to me anyway, aren't you," Jack said, greatly resigned, and nearly at the bottom of his soda.

[unusual_sith]

"Of course!"

Lana dug into the bag and came up with a beaded robot kit. "This museum had beads all over. Look, you can make your own droid now! I know how much you've missed having one around."

She thought she was funny.

[suitably_heroic]

Jack stared at it.

"You're hilarious, Beniko," he grumbled. "You missed your calling as a comedian."